Improvement in hemp-brakes



UNITED STATES PATENT QEEICEo JACOB EVANS, OF WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN HEMP-BRAKES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 149,733, dated April 14, 1674; application led I December 27, 1873.

To all whom 'it may concern: v

Be it known that I, JACOB EVANS, of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a Machine for Breaking and Swingling Hemp, Flax, Src., of which the following is a specification:

This machine consists essentially of a system of rising and falling beater-bars operating in conjunction with corresponding series of yielding bed-bars and intervening rigid bars, over which the flax, hemp, or analogous material is fed by feed-rollers, made preferably with sharp teeth or ribs to assist in the swingling and softening of the material, and is, at cach stroke of the beater-bars, bent over the rigid 4bars into cavities formed by the yielding of the bed-bars, and is afterward pushed up by the rising of the bars, and fed forward by the rollers to subject other portions to the same operation. 4

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a plan of the machine. Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse section thereof.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the gures.

The frame Aof the machine is of rectangular form, and is provided in the lower portion with bearings for the drivin g-shaft B, to which motion is imparted by a belt from any suitableymotor. At one end the yielding bed-bars and intervening rigid bars D D are arranged. ,Y They are supported on suitable crosst bars, and extend lengthwise of the frame. The

rigid bars Dsl) rest in blocks E E that are supported on the stretchers G G of the frame A; but the yielding bed-bars C C are fastened to two cross-bars, H Hf They rest on spiral springsv I I, which have their bearing on other bars crossing the frame, and surround pins that guide the bars in the up and down yielding and rising motion of the bed-bars. I prefer to make these bars of `Wood or similar soft material., J -Y-are the beater-bars. They correspond in number and position to the bedbars, and are all united at one end into a single stem, which is pivoted to a bridge-like fulcrum, K, provided on the frame. The end of the stem extends some distance beyond the fulcrum to a cam, L, by which it is depressed and released to raise the beater-bars and allow them to fall on the bed-bars. The shaft M, on which the cam is situated, has motion transmitted to it by belt from the driving-shaft B, and'by means of the disparity in the size of the pulleys which receive the belt the beater bars are operated quickly. A spring, N, applied to the middle beater-bar, pulls them down when released by the cam, and gives them a lively and effective action.

I do not restrict myself to this manner of operating the beater-bars, for I think they might, with advantage, be made to rise and fall bodily, instead of being oscillated, as described. The number of bars will be determined in practice to suit the work to be performed, and the bed-bars and rigid bars will correspond.

There are two sets of feed-rollers, O O and P l), made preferably with short teeth or ribs, one pair tofeed the material to the beaterbars and the other to deliver it from them. The rollers O O (those that feed it to the bars) will have a pressure exerted on them, by weight, springs, or screws, to cause them to crush and bend the hemp, iiax, or other material over the teeth of 'the rollers, thereby to break the shive previous to subjecting the material to the beating operation. These rollers are driven from the driving-shaft, but move very slowly, so that they feed the material only a very short distance between each Ystroke of the beater-bars.

For some material it may be desirable to 1 provide another pair of feed-rollers, and to duplicate the series of beater-bars and bedbars between the second and third pair, so as to double the effectiveness of the machine.

The hemp, flax, or other material treated has the shive broken from it by its passage between the rollers O O 5 and, when subjected to the beaters, it is forced abruptly over the edges of the rigid bars down into cavities formed by the yielding of the bed-bars. When ythe beater-bars rise, the bed-bars are raised by their underlying springs, and push up the previously-indented portions of the material, so that it can be fed smoothly forward again over the bars. It is only fed a very short distance, however, before the beater-bars descend again, and bend it over the rigid bars into the cavities again formed by the depression ofthe bed-bars. Thus it is softened, and is also swingled at the same time, and issues from the machines in what would be classified in the market as clean or extraclean hemp, and this without forming any tow or other waste.

Vhat I claim as my invention is- 1. The bed-bars C, supported upon the crossbars H, resting on springs I,\in combination with the beater-bars J and rigid bars D, said rigid bars being interposed between the bedbars, all constructed to operate substantialiy as and for the purpose specified.

2. In combination with the beater-bars J and yielding bed-bars C, the feedrollers O, having sharp teeth or ribs, and having a pressure exerted on them to remove the shive from the material passing between them7 as herein described. y

JACOB EVANS. Witnesses:

HENRY T. BROWN, MICHAEL RYAN. 

